The University of Montana School of Law

Blankenbaker Lecture on Professional Responsibility

Joseph N. Blankenbaker was born in Madison, Virginia in 1885. Blankenbaker moved west at the age of 23. After working for a year in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, he arrived in Virgelle, Montana to work on a sheep and cattle ranch owned by his second cousin. In 1918 he left the ranch and began working for the Stockman’s National Bank at Fort Benton, and in 1925 he went to the Scandinavian American Bank at Big Timber.

Blankenbaker then moved to Helena and worked for several years in a government loan office. In 1938 he began working for the Northwestern Bank and
Union Trust Company in Helena, and in 1944 he resigned to become affiliated with the Northwestern National Bank of Great Falls, where he remained until
he retired in 1953.

In 1975, at the age of 90, Blankenbaker established a foundation “to express his thanks to the people of Montana for treating him so well.” The Blankenbaker Foundation provides an annual endowment to The University of Montana School of Law to supplement educational programs in professional responsibility, the primary objective being to increase sensitivity to the responsibility for leadership and competence in the practice of law. Blankenbaker is now deceased, but the trust carries on in his name. The Blankenbaker Foundation is managed by three trustees: W. Bjarne Johnson, a private attorney in the firm of Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams, P.C., Great Falls; John Koppelman, Bank President, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.; and Casey Dawson, Trust Officer, Wells Fargo Private Client Services.